It is almost a year since Justine Henin returned to competitive tennis in Brisbane after 16 months of retirement. She is now making another comeback, following six months of rehabilitation, training and therapy on a career-threatening elbow injury.
Last year, Roger Federer's French Open win and Kim Clijster's success at the US Open were Henin's inspirations to come out of her premature retirement. The Belgian hit the courts running, reaching the final at Brisbane and the Australian Open, and winning at Stuttgart and the Unicef Open in Holland.
She cruised into the semi-finals at Wimbledon, but slipped midway through the first set against Clijsters, injuring her elbow. She completed the match, but that was to be her last competitive appearance until her return at the Hopman's Cup in Perth last week.
Henin won her comeback match against Alicia Molik, but the seven-time grand slam champion admitted she would need another month to build her confidence and find the rhythm that makes her one of the most attractive players on the tour.
"I had to work really hard in the last two weeks just to try to serve with no pain," Henin said in Perth. "I'm not yet 100 per cent, but feeling much better. A few weeks ago I really didn't know if I was going to able to compete in Australia and I think it's been a lot of hard work on my elbow."
That begs the question: should Henin have waited a bit longer until her elbow is completely pain-free? Is she taking a risk? But as the Belgian said, "patience is not really my biggest quality - far away from that".
"I'll have to be patient," she added. "That is going to be my resolution in 2011 - being more patient."
Coming back from such an injury will be a tough journey for Henin. Dinara Safin, Serena Williams, Maria Sharapova and Juan Martin del Potro would all testify to that.
Sticking to her resolution might be as difficult for the former world No 1, just as it will be for Clijsters, who wants to be a bit more organised in 2011.
"I'm not really good with electronics and I've never been great at keeping track of my personal schedule on a computer or phone," said Clijsters, a good friend of Henin. "So I still use a diary to write everything in.
"I always start the year so neatly and I want to keep like that, but I usually find that by one month in, I have scribbles and crossings out everywhere, and it's all messy. So that's going to be my resolution - be more organised with my planning."
Fans will surely wish them luck with their resolutions. But a greater desire would be to see a fully fit Henin play Clijsters more often and create a sort of rivalry that men's tennis can boast in Rafael Nadal and Federer.